TTM autograph received: Jim Palmer

It might have been sometime in February when my buddy decided to make a card show run and took me along to make a day of it - the first stop was at a card shop I go to with a card show that runs twice a week.

I browsed through the old-school and vintage showcase when I saw a 1966 Topps Jim Palmer rookie card #126 - I figured for $25, the card was an impulse buy that might end up as TTM fuel.

I sent off the card with $10 in a TTM request to the Hall of Fame pitcher a week or so before I left for some overseas travel - but unlike the other requests I'd sent off, I anticipated getting a response from Palmer back quickly.

Things might not have worked out as far as the timing goes, where I would have to wait a couple of months more to see whether I had a good or bad result - but did get my rookie card back signed the last day I could go to the mail box before leaving the country.

Featured autograph - Brooks Robinson

I was thumbing through '2 for $1' old school / vintage bins of a seller I stumbled upon at a card show - I thought this might be just another card, but took a closer look and it looked like it was faintly scribbled on.

It looks like an autograph of Robinson, who passed away on Sept. 26 - maybe it's a testament of how generous he was about signing, where I might find an autograph card of his in a relatively unlikely place.

2023 Topps team runs completed

One of the loose card projects I work on is trying to get a flagship Topps card from all the MLB teams over the past 45 years - that may only run from 1978 onward, but I'm looking at over 40 years and it's a perpetual work in progress to fill holes, where I would like to get all the cards I need.

When opening a Topps flagship blaster in previous year, maybe I wanted to be able to complete a current year run within that one box - but the choices in-hand don't always end up inspiring and I might have held off on a team spot in case there was a card in Series 2 I wanted to use or maybe a Series 1 card I didn't pull.

I had a hobby box of Topps Series 1 to work with this year and except for potential Series 2 cards - I wouldn't have a problem finishing off this year's run.

Best players or seat fillers [?] - I don’t want to always use the more obvious stars or superstars, where a personal rule is only being able to use a player three times for a team's entire run.

I want to highlight either a breakout or underrated player and in most cases, will defer to using notable players - especially if they were the story for a particular year and I have the card for them.

Considering considering cards for my Topps team runs collection - maybe the Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks left me wondering if I actually had the cards to pick from.

I could have used a Michael Harris RC for the Braves - but that is going into my award winners collection, where it's my first card of the 2022 National League Rookie of the Year.

I ended up going with a card of Raisel Iglesias - who hasn't really been a Braves' player for that long, but might be counted on to be the team's closer this upcoming season.

I could have used an Adley Rutschman (RC) for the Orioles, but I want to keep that card around as a 'single' or maybe a binder material centerpiece - even though there are probably a million of the cards printed where it's worth $5 rather than $25.

For the Orioles, I ended up using the rookie card of Gunnar Henderson - maybe it's a little fast forward thinking, where he hasn't done anything yet, but Henderson is the No.1 prospect in the game and his rookie teases a nice 'dirt fetish' at-bat shot.

For the Diamondbacks, I didn't want to use another Merrill Kelly or Ketel Marte, so I went with Josh Rojas - not quite an inspiring player, but he had a decent year in 2022.

#17 Shohei Ohtani - Angels
#181 Yordan Alvarez - Astros
#153 Kevin Gausman - Blue Jays
#115 Raisel Iglesias - Braves
#60 Josh Rojas - Diamondbacks
#257 Yadiel Hernandez - Expos / Nationals
#262 Camilo Doval - Giants
#116 Steven Kwan - Indians / Guardians
#330 Julio Rodriguez - Mariners
#206 Gunnar Henderson - Orioles
#279 Yu Darvish - Padres
#314 Ke'Bryan Hayes - Pirates
#124 Nathaniel Lowe - Rangers
#227 Yandy Diaz - Rays
#11 Rafael Devers - Red Sox
#33 Kyle Farmer - Reds
#122 Yonathan Daza - Rockies
#7 Bobby Witt Jr. - Royals
#62 Aaron Judge - Yankees
#6 Paul Blackburn - Athletics
#109 Eric Lauer - Brewers
#5 Albert Pujols - Cardinals
#54 Marcus Stroman - Cubs
#50 Mookie Betts - Dodgers
#107 Sandy Alcantara - Marlins
#21 Max Scherzer - Mets
#293 J.T. Realmuto - Phillies
#74 Tarik Skubal - Tigers
#25 Byron Buxton - Twins
#132 Gavin Sheets - White Sox; #53 Dylan Cease - White Sox

TTM autographs received: Gregg Olson

The former big league reliever signed my cards in about three weeks back in August c/o Auburn University where he is a coach - I may have wrote on my request to Olson that he could keep the other cards if he wanted, but to at least sign the 1990 Leaf if he could.

However in my return, the only card he didn't end up signing was the one I wanted signed the most - I just had to chuckle at this apparent mishap [at least for me] and ended up grabbing a signed copy of the 1990 Leaf on eBay.

TTM autographs received: Jim Palmer

The Hall of Fame pitcher signed my two cards in about 5 days for his fee of $10 per card - I think he still had broadcasting obligations with the Baltimore Orioles through the 2021 season, so I held off on sending to him c/o a So. Cal mailing address, until I saw successes coming back [where presumably my request wouldn't be held up in limbo].

Whenever I think about losing a card somewhere...maybe an ongoing feature

With how I still play with my cards after all these years, maybe it makes or breaks the 'order of things' when I can't find a random card I apparently have misplaced somewhere - I'm sorting through countless cards and may occasionally visualize related cards in my head that are not immediately in-hand.

In my big sort through my active team boxes, I was going through my Colorado Rockies cards and in the 'minors' section, find a pair of 2018 Bowman Draft cards for Terrin Vavra - currently a Baltimore Orioles farmhand who was traded from the Colorado Rockies with Tyler Nevin and PTBNL in the Mycal Givens deal in 2020.

I thought I just put one away somewhere and looked to get the 3 cards together - the third card must be a 2019 Topps Pro Debut since I picked up a hand collated set.

I might have already set it aside with my temporary set-up for my Orioles ‘minors’ cards but it wasn’t there - I may be getting Mandela Effect vibes here, where I’m misremembering and misplacing things in my head.

I should have a copy of the card somewhere since it was supposed to be one of the cards in the set I purchased - wouldn’t that be something if the card was missing off the set and out of all the cards after the fact, it’s only at this point a random base card becomes a first world problem.

Maybe the Vavra card was part of the book of cards I put together for spring training in 2019 - but the card came out after ST, so that couldn’t have been the case.

Maybe the Vavra was in a Mega box of cards that was supposed to be for Cal League teams through 2019 - Vavra was still playing at a level below, but maybe I had a hunch that it was grouped there in case Vavra moved up.

Unfortunately the only card for the Rockies affiliate at the time was a Casey Golden - so I was stumped, worried about some random card being in a forgotten pile I've never get to.

I'm in the middle of this rejigger project with my active team boxes and through a couple of weeks I was at a loss - I was messing around with my main box for my active team boxes, seeing if I could straighten my set-ups with the idea the card I’m looking for might shake out of the blue and go figure, that is exactly what happened.

I was utterly shocked when the Vavra card was found sandwiched between two Roy Smalley cards in the alumni portion of my Minnesota Twins cards - how would this random card end up there?

I racked my brain looking everywhere for the card - I’m glad it wasn’t buried among my other claptrap of cards I dared to rummage through because that would have meant I just left it somewhere and forgot about it.

I think it I just ended up mindlessly sorting through too many cards and one fell through the cracks - for now the card is with my two other Vavra cards, though this particular one may have a story behind it now to remind me of my perpetual folly.

Here was a previous episode to remind me - that these things happen and it doesn't always have to be a crisis.

TTM autographs received: Scott McGregor

The longtime Baltimore Orioles lefthander from the mid 1970s-1980s signed my cards in about a month - McGregor wasn't an overpowering lefty, but with the help of the teams playing behind him, was able to put up big numbers as a middle of the rotation starting pitcher.

I got a copy of McGregor's 1984 Donruss card to send out with my request - I might not bother trying and get more cards from the set signed like some people do with a particular brand/year of cards, but I really like how the 1984 Donruss looks.

TTM autographs received: Rafael Palmeiro

The former big leaguer signed my two 500 home run 8x10 photos in exactly a week - I mailed my request off to Palmeiro on a Monday and by Friday, I checked the tracking status on my self-addressed photo mailer and it was already out of Palmeiro's hands.

I was anticipating my results and hoping there were not any complications - because it’s a couple of 8x10s I sent and not just loose cards for his current TTM fee of $20.

The afternoon my photo mailer was to arrive, I hoped to meet the mail man as he drove by to deliver the mail [these COVID-19 pandemic adventures are getting too crazy] - but maybe it was too hot and I was thinking of something else in the small window of time when the mail man had stopped by.

I waited around and when I checked my mail, I found my photo mailer was crammed in the mail box - I had to fish my mailer out out delicately and while the thick cardboard envelope a little bent out of shape, my 8x10 photos survived enclosed a photo sleeve / backing board.

Featured autograph - Cal Ripken Jr. and Tim Salmon

Both of these guys are baseball 'heroes' and coincidentally they share the same birthday, 8 years apart - while it may sound a little corny, over the past 30 years, they were among the pros I considered larger than life.

Though Salmon was never the national baseball icon Ripken Jr. was as the latter chased The Streak - Salmon may have reason I was paying closer attention to Angels games during his first full season as a rookie in 1993.

TTM autographs received: Dave Schmidt

Schmidt was an effective big league reliever, doing some double duty in the starting rotation for several seasons, starting 49 games for the Baltimore Orioles from 1987-1989 - he signed my cards in blue Sharpie in about three weeks, including a 1984 Fleer card I actually sought out and picked up earlier in the year.

TTM autographs received: Jim Palmer

The Hall of Famer pitcher and longtime baseball broadcaster signed my two cards in blue Sharpie in about a week or so - Palmer has usually traveled with the visiting Baltimore Orioles and I've gotten him in-person several times over the past 20 years, but the last time I probably saw him was in 2012.

I dug some Palmer cards out of my IP boxes a year or so ago but left them loose until decided to finally send a couple out c/o a So. Cal address with $20 enclosed - I don’t want to blow my wad on TTM, but to get some cards inked up, what I might do is stagger my requests.

In addition to sending to subjects who don’t require a fee [yet?] - I’ll have those one or two ‘special requests’ I need to add money to.

1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken Jr. 98T

I picked up a copy of this card because Ripken Jr. was a star who was on the verge of an iconic milestone when I was really getting into baseball fandom through the mid 1990s - this is probably his best mainstream rookie-year card and maybe the adolescent in me would be really impressed to have this in my personal collection.

When I started really collecting as a kid, I remember 'finding' Ripken Jr.'s 1982 Donruss RC during a visit at an acquaintance's house - afterwards, I had to tag along with my parents to look for carpeting in what would be the family home.

I was bored and I took some tape off a dispenser I was playing and stuck it on a part of the card - I peeled the tape off and just like that I'd damaged a card worth a whopping [at least to me] $8 at the time; maybe it was simply karma for a little youthful indiscretion on my end.

In the early 1990s, I was just starting to get into baseball fandom as Nolan Ryan was knocking down achievements [5,000th strikeout, 300th win, 6th no-hitter] as an elder statesman of MLB - I never got Ryan's autograph when I first started to get autographs in-person, but I was able to meet Ripken Jr. a few times when the year after he broke Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played.

Rafael Palmeiro - 1987 Donruss #43

If Palmeiro can continue to suit up to play independent baseball for at least the next few years - it can show he's still plugging away with his timeless swing and isn't completely removed from professional baseball, even though a failed steroid test derailed his induction into the Hall of Fame.

Right now, he gets to be a teammate of his son Patrick and while his stint with a team called the Cleburn Railroaders probably doesn't lead anywhere - maybe the occasional highlight helps him get back in the news where the 53-year old gets a second look, even if it's for cheap thrills, a novelty.

1978 Topps Eddie Murray RC #36

I want to build up a traditional rookie card collection [consisting of cards at least 20 years old, cards that aren't serial numbered, autographed or glow in the dark] - but on a relative budget however, it’s hard to be picky as far as finding notable RCs with decent eye appeal; many of the mid level options I've seen listed on eBay just look a bit too rough for my taste.

I probably sent out an APB for a copy of this card after seeing it ranked No. 7 among the greatest cards of the 1970s on the Night Owl Cards blog - I did trade for another copy of the card years ago, but it probably compares best to 'well loved' ones on eBay I'd disregard otherwise.

This card is a little off-center, which I'm sort of a stickler on - but seems pretty clean otherwise.

While the Hall of Famer's prime years was with the Baltimore Orioles in the 1980s - I remember him playing past the junk wax era and through the mid 1990s as a player gunning for both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.

TTM autographs received: Tom Niedenfuer

I was able to round up some junk wax era cards for the former big league reliever and he signed them in about a couple of weeks - Niedenfuer was a serviceable pitcher who spent 7 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers through the 1980s.

Unfortunately, despite his success, he was on the wrong end of a couple of big league home runs - hit in the 1985 National League Championship Series by Ozzie Smith and Jack Clark.

After pitching for the Dodgers, he had stints with the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners and the St. Louis Cardinals - before leaving the game for good at age 31.

Featured autograph - Brooks Robinson

With a donation, I was able to get the Hall of Famer's autograph on a couple of his cards - I saw that he started signing TTM again and wanted to see if I could get a response.

I remember 15-20 years ago when Robinson would sign through the mail for a small fee - I also remember when he basically stopped answering TTM requests because he had some sort of agreement with a card shop for paid signings.

Robinson's autograph may not pop as much with the matte card surface and the darker, painted image used on the 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces card - but the auto is nearly centered perfectly to go with the horizontal picture.

2016 Topps Heritage Hyun Soo Kim #721 image variation

I wanted a rookie card of the Korean import and ended up with a rookie-year variation - it's a random pick-up, but the story behind Kim's first season in Major League Baseball fascinated me.

After a banner season with the KBO Doosan Bears in 2015, Kim signed with the Baltimore Orioles - fans and experts who followed the Orioles, didn't know what to make of the KBO veteran, when he couldn't buy a hit in spring training.

Kim's struggles were kind of explained off because the KBO starts training for their season earlier in the year and Kim wasn't used to MLB spring training - however the Orioles were going to send Kim down to the minors and there was boos on Opening Day, when Kim stuck around instead going to AAA.

Kim's status was in limbo, but I read where Kim just kept working behind the scenes and Orioles manager Buck Showalter finally found ways to ease the 28-year old into games - Kim started collecting hits and while he wasn't playing against lefties, he emerged as an inspiring role player for a Baltimore Orioles team desperate to get into the Wild Card game.

Kim's first year MLB numbers are fairly modest [.304/.382/.422] - but an increased role next year may boost Kim's batting numbers.

Featured autograph - Albert Belle

I like these certified autograph cards where presumably a baseball is ripped up and the sweet spot [the area between the seams, the preferred spot for single signed baseballs] - is put together to mimic a signed baseball on a trading card.

Pacific Trading Cards may have been the first card company to incorporate a swatch of a baseball into a card - but Upper Deck was the first company to popularize this type of autograph with their Sweet Spot product in 2001.

I picked this 2001 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Signatures card of one the most fearsome big league hitters to play in 1990s - when looking at completed auctions on eBay, maybe it's a little weird to see that Belle's autographs don't really go for much.

Maybe it's hard to call Belle a typical baseball 'fan favorite' when he seemed like a mean, angry SOB as a player - but he put up numbers, hit home runs a long way and didn't take any nonsense from anyone who dared challenge him.

Belle was robbed of the 1995 American League MVP because he didn't want to deal with the media at the time - though a hip injury cut his career short in his 30s, he might have garnered stronger Hall of Fame support if he had been a little friendlier to the press.

Featured autograph - Jake Arrieta

It's fun to dig up at least a signed card [if nothing else] of an ace pitcher who has just thrown his second no-hitter in as many seasons - who knows how long this run of excellence will last for Arrieta, but it's fun to watch a pitcher use his arsenal of pitches to impose their will against opposing batters.

I think I got this card signed [along with three others] when Arrieta was a rookie with the Baltimore Orioles back in 2010 - he had emerged in the minors as someone who could be a decent major league starter, but after floundering for parts of four seasons with the Orioles, it took a trade to the Cubs before Arrieta would start to blossom.

2012 Hudson Valley Joey Rickard

I dug up the first professional card of the Rule 5 draft pick who made the Baltimore Orioles Opening Day roster as their starter in left field - I'm poring over Rickard's Baseball Reference page to see if I could figure out where he came from and what he might be capable of as a big leaguer.

He posted a .390 on-base percentage in parts of 4 minor league seasons and can run - so after a good spring training performance, perhaps he can stick around.